Is A/B/C really as easy as 1/2/3?

Maybe for the Jackson 5, but in the web, it takes a lot of time and effort. I am talking about what is normally referred to as A/B testing. It is the science of testing multiple versions of something in order to achieve the most optimal results from your web sites visitors.

There are many things in which we do A/B testing for. From simple things like buttons and graphics on the web page itself, to more complicated things like pay-per-click ad text, landing pages and forms.

It takes time and effort, patience and investment to do A/B testing but it is definitely worth the rewards. For example:

• Proper landing page testing can actually decrease your cost-per-click in Google.
  
• Optimizing the ad text for your pay-per-click campaign can help you to get quality traffic to your web site and increase your return on ad spend.
  
• People might react differently for a different color button on your web site, therefor increasing the click-through rate into your shopping cart or application.
  
• A different way for your visitors to fill out a form might influence them to complete the transaction more, there by increasing the conversion rate of your web site.

As you can see, there are several different ways to conduct A/B testing. Give some of these a try on your own site and see how the results vary. You'd be surprised at the results that some little changes can make.

Adding Google Search To Your Websites

As a search engine optimizer, I am always looking for information of how people are searching for information. I've read all the reports, I study analytics and I have my sites registered with Google's Webmaster tools. Recently, I came across the Google Mini search appliance. The Google Mini is an actual server that you can buy directly from Google and it comes loaded with all the Google search functionality. With this little piece of hardware heaven, you can configure your sites search functionality to run from the Google Mini's server.

The statistics you can get from the reporting on the Google Mini is priceless. It tells you all the ways people are searching for information on your own site, what keywords they used, searches where results were found and even searches where no results were found. This information can help you optimize your site and give you great insight to how actual users are looking for information.

Visit the Google Mini web site for more information on the Google Mini.

Searching a site within Google Search Results

Google revealed a new way to make searching for exactly what you are looking for a bit easier. They now include a site search box within some of their search results. Based on research, Google found that often when a person is searching for a specific site, such as the Internet Movie Database, the first thing they do when they get there is to conduct a more refined search within that site. By including a site search box directly in their search results they give users a convenient way to find exactly what they are looking for within a site. Find out more at the official Google Blog.

Copyright 2008 IdeaStar Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Yahoo developing a unified ad platform

Yahoo's President Sue Decker announced that they are working on creating a new ad platform this past week at the IAB conference in Phoenix. Apex, or Advertiser Publisher Exchange, will bring together several of their ad products for an all-in-one platform. With this new platform Yahoo is “trying to revolutionize the online advertising industry."

Ms. Decker explained:
"We are building a cutting edge ad platform that runs across all formats, whether it is search, display, video. It is capable of harnessing the power of Yahoo and the power off Yahoo. But it will also take advantage of emerging formats like mobile, all in an easy to use system."

Yahoo did not reveal specifics of the new platform, and the announcement is not a launch. Apex is still in development and will “involve many releases over several years.” Ms. Decker also discussed the announcement on the Yahoo Blog, explaining that the new platform "simplifies the process for advertisers when buying targeted, guaranteed and non-guaranteed advertising inventory across Yahoo!’s owned and operated network, partner sites, and other advertising networks. And furthermore, this new platform will be a web-based, hosted application that harnesses the power of collaboration across the Internet."

Depending on how intuitive the new platform really is, this release could be very exciting for the future of online advertising. We will be watching for additional announcements and are looking forward to seeing what Apex has to offer!

Copyright 2008 IdeaStar Inc.
All Rights Reserved.